Star Wars: The Old Republic Review Journal

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A detailed look at BioWare's MMO.

By Nick Kolan

It's happened, internet. It's finally happened. For Star Wars fans, MMO fans, and BioWare fans, the wait has stretched on for what feels like, and also is, years, but OverviewStar Wars: The Old Republic has finally launched. As IGN's resident MMO expert (or MMPrO), reviewing The Old Republic will basically be my job for the next few weeks. I realize how murderously envious that may have made you.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is the first massively-multiplayer game from BioWare, a studio renowned for excellent single-player role playing games such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and the original Knights of the Old Republic. From the outset, BioWare's goal has been to create the same sense of immersion and story progression in an MMO. That means that all dialogue is fully voice-acted, and there are loads of dialogue choices to make throughout the main storyline. Also, there is a main storyline(!).

The rest of the MMO standards are expected to be (and unless they were removed after the beta, are) there, including crafting, multiple character advancement options, dungeons and raids (known as Flashpoints and Operations respectively), PvP, and piles of loot ripe for the taking.

Send us your tips »Tweet us your tips »As I expect The Old Republic to have hundreds (perhaps thousands) of hours worth of content, a traditional review would take weeks. Thus, as IGN has done with several MMOs in the past -- check out our Rift Review Journal and DC Universe Online Review Journal -- I will be doing a "Review in Progress," in which I provide almost-daily updates about what I think about various aspects of the game. When I feel like I have played enough of The Old Republic to give a fair and valid review, it will be posted here, and the review journal will be reposted elsewhere for your viewing pleasure. In other words, if you want to keep up with IGN's review of The Old Republic, you ought to bookmark this page.

In the past we've also hosted a guild open to join by our readers. We won't be doing that this time. Sorry! But you are totally free to pretend that you are in a guild made by us and say Beyond and Scoop to your heart's content.

The reviewing process will begin when we gain access to the game which will likely be Wednesday, December 14. It will end when my hands or eyes fall off, possibly in early January. In the meantime, enjoy some of our other Old Republic coverage or take a gander at our Star Wars: The Old Republic Wiki. You can also plan your character out using our Star Wars: The Old Republic Character Builder.

Dec. 13: If you haven't closely followed coverage about The Old Republic on this and many other websites, but the idea of a Star Wars MMO or news of a new BioWare game has piqued your curiosity, then there's a lot to learn. I'll try my best to summarize the most important parts of what you can expect from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The Old Republic's structure is much more akin to an MMO like World of Warcraft than its less-structured space-stepbrother EVE Online. There are two warring playable factions -- the Empire and the Republic -- and you must choose which side of the fence you're on at the very beginning of the game, even before you make your character. Once you've chosen, you're stuck on that side for good. New characters can be on the opposing side, regardless of server type.

Each faction has four basic classes available to them. Your class choice not only determines available abilities, but also determines how your main storyline plays out. Even within the story there is a lot of wiggle-room, though; choosing different dialogue options during conversations can cause some serious shifts in the storyline (though it is tough to determine just how much based on how much I have played so far.

The classes all branch into two more classes fairly early on. For example, the Bounty Hunter basic class turns into the Mercenary and Powertech advanced classes. You can again only choose once. After you've branched into your advanced class, you'll share a few skills with the other class but you'll also get a whole slew of unique ones. All of the advanced classes conform to at least one of the standard MMO "holy trinity" of healer, tank (a character designed to keep enemies attacking them and not allies), and damage dealer. There is room to specialize within your class with a system akin to World of Warcraft's original talent trees.

The Old Republic is divided up into planets and other celestial bodies. While you can't visit any planet you like early on, you can later with the help of a starship you will obtain along your main quest. Even then, however, you may be limited in choice based on your level -- you can theoretically land on a level 50 planet at level 15, but you'll be unable to really do anything other than get eaten by the planet's alien inhabitants.

The Old Republic also houses several ancillary systems such as a crafting system designed to give you extra items by collecting and using various materials. It's a purely optional system but gives you something to do other than questing and killing stuff. Likewise, there are space-combat missions reminiscent of Star Fox. You basically fly around an on-rails level shooting almost everything that hoves into your field of vision.

Like the other BioWare games of recent years, The Old Republic is especially notable for being fully voice-acted. Given how much content there typically is in an MMO, that's pretty impressive (and probably very expensive). It also probably accounts for a very large portion of the 18+ gigabyte filesize.

Unlike many other MMOs, there are no "pet classes," classes who rely on creatures that follow them around for their damage. Instead, in The Old Republic every class also gets a set of companions, which are like more sophisticated pets. They're quite strong, and have a wide set of abilities. They can also contribute to conversations. In a pinch, they can sometimes fill in for a missing player in groups (though don't expect them to play as efficiently as a real player or do anything super complex).

If you're a fan of dungeon crawls, The Old Republic has instanced areas called Flashpoints that will fill your need to kill angry bosses for loot. Operations are instanced areas for larger groups than Flashpoints and are intended as end-game content. If you're more into killing other players, there is both open-world Player versus Player combat (PvP) on PvP servers and instanced Warzones with specific objectives for all server types. There are also little rewards and secrets scattered across the Galaxy for intrepid explorers.

There's naturally far more to learn once you're playing, but that about covers all the basics.